The present invention relates to an absorbent article such as a sanitary napkin, a panty liner, and an incontinence pad for absorbing menstrual blood, vaginal discharge, and urine, for example, and more particularly to an absorbent article having a pair of right and left three-dimensional gathers erect on a skin side by gather-forming nonwoven fabric arranged at both sides of a liquid permeable surface sheet along the longitudinal direction.
Conventionally, there is known, as an absorbent article such as a sanitary napkin, a panty liner, a vaginal discharge sheet, and an incontinence pad, an absorbent article in which an absorbent body composed of cotton-like pulp and the like is interposed between a liquid impermeable back surface sheet composed of a polyethylene sheet or polyethylene laminate nonwoven fabric, for example, and a liquid permeable surface sheet composed of nonwoven fabric or a porous plastic sheet, for example.
Such a kind of absorbent article has been improved various times, and an absorbent article having double three-dimensional gathers is proposed, as illustrated in FIG. 10 to FIG. 12. As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-19120, an absorbent article 50 having such double three-dimensional gathers is the absorbent article 50 having an absorbent body 53 interposed between a liquid permeable surface sheet 51 and a liquid impermeable back surface sheet 52, includes, at each of both sides of the absorbent article 50, a first three-dimensional gather 54 formed to project on a skin side with a position near the substantially side edge of the absorbent body 53 as an erection base end and a second three-dimensional gather 55 formed at a relatively outer position of the first three-dimensional gather 54 and formed to project on a skin side by nonwoven fabric arranged to be substantially continuous from the surface of the liquid impermeable back surface sheet 52.
The absorbent article having such double three-dimensional gathers completely prevents side leakage of body fluids such as menstrual blood and vaginal discharge, and exerts the effect of preventing dirt of panties.
Moreover, the above-described absorbent article having double three-dimensional gathers has been also improved various times, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-175022 proposes an absorbent article effectively preventing side leakage, etc. when used, by joining a side flap (corresponding to the second three-dimensional gather 55) and a three-dimensional cuff (corresponding to the first three-dimensional gather 54) at each of both ends in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article or the vicinity of each of the both ends so as to secure the erection property of the side flap and the three-dimensional cuff.
Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-104174 proposes an absorbent article in which a thread-like elastic member is disposed at a region near the erection base end of the second three-dimensional gather portion along a substantially longitudinal direction of the absorbent article, and a thread-like elastic member is disposed at each erection end region, whereby the thread-like elastic member disposed at the region near the erection base end acts for effectively erecting the side portion of the liquid impermeable back surface sheet, so that the base end portion of the second three-dimensional gather is erected upward by the thread-like elastic member, and the gather end portion is fit along a leg securely and flexibly by the thread-like elastic member at the end side.
Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-45396 supposes an absorbent article in which the first three-dimensional gather is formed to project in an inward direction with a side upper surface position of the absorbent body as an erection base point, and the second three-dimensional gather is formed to project in an outward direction substantially with an upper surface position of the liquid impermeable back surface sheet as an erection base point, so that when attached, large-width space having a substantially V-shaped cross section, that is, space for retaining menstrual blood, for example, is securely formed by the first three-dimensional gather and the second three-dimensional gather, and the space state is maintained steadily.